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Strategies for SaaS, Cloud Computing, Marketing, ProductsFri, 22 Jul 2016 15:04:29 +0000en-UShourly14541934337.562218-121.994332http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/Prudentwirehttps://feedburner.google.comSubscribe with My Yahoo!Subscribe with NewsGatorSubscribe with My AOLSubscribe with BloglinesSubscribe with NetvibesSubscribe with GoogleSubscribe with PageflakesSubscribe with PlusmoSubscribe with The Free DictionarySubscribe with Bitty BrowserSubscribe with NewsAlloySubscribe with Live.comSubscribe with Excite MIXSubscribe with Yourminis.comSubscribe with Attensa for OutlookSubscribe with WebwagSubscribe with netomat HubSubscribe with Podcast ReadySubscribe with FlurrySubscribe with WikioSubscribe with Daily RotationGetting feedback – Dos and Don’tshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Prudentwire/~3/YxbBKrr7NZ0/
http://www.prudentcloud.com/product-management/getting-feedback-10032015/#respondTue, 10 Mar 2015 15:14:14 +0000http://www.prudentcloud.com/?p=2881As product companies we build products to meet a need out there. Along the way, we follow the standard practice of reaching out to existing customers, prospects, experts in the field to get validation of the problem, our proposed solution, market, pricing etc. But having met someone (physically or online) and requested feedback, accepting the feedback is a skill that […]

As product companies we build products to meet a need out there. Along the way, we follow the standard practice of reaching out to existing customers, prospects, experts in the field to get validation of the problem, our proposed solution, market, pricing etc.

But having met someone (physically or online) and requested feedback, accepting the feedback is a skill that many of us don’t possess. It is an area all of us need some training in. The natural tendency is to immediately react to feedback (specially when it is negative). The result of that is it will block any additional feedback from coming your way.

How does one rein in the urge to react and make the best use of the time with someone who is helping you? Here are some things we learnt as part of numerous sessions.

Keep the noise out: Given that we have sought time with this person/people for feedback we block out everything else. No text message, cellphones during that meeting. Also as far as possible we don’t schedule the meeting in a coffee shop that abounds with all the necessary distractions.

Too many cooks: We avoidgoing to that meeting with a large team and “gang up” on the person giving feedback. Just one, at the most two. While one of us presents our product or idea the other can take notes. We also take turns in asking questions on different areas (sales, marketing, product, customer, pricing).

Set the expectations: As much as it is an art of seeking and receiving feedback, giving feedback is even more awkward. Just so we get unvarnished feedback, we make sure to convey to the person giving feedback, that we would appreciate the brutal truth and nothing less. There will be no feelings hurt or egos bruised. This way there is no awkward feeling.

Set the context: We start with the background on why we think the problem is worth solving and how painful the problem is to our target customers. Without getting into the solution, we try to keep it at the problem area and our hypothesis of the solution. This way we are not biasing any thoughts.

Listen more and speak less: Needless to say, the person giving feedback will ask some questions. Wait for the person to finish the question and then take your time to answer. One common mistake we all make is – while the person asking a question we interrupt, we put our mind on fast-forward to come up with the answer that we ought to give and consequently don’t listen to what she is saying properly. “Listen twice as much as you speak” rule applies here and resist the temptation to speak over the other person. The key thing to remember is – you are getting free, valuable advice. Maximize the value of time you have with this expert. I remember having a session with someone who had just left a large company and starting their own startup – he spent almost 50 minutes of the hour talking about the product and why he was passionate about the idea and not once asked me what I thought. This after he requested my time to get feedback and not to mention I had just come off a position, leading a company, in that space.

Don’t Defend: When we ask for feedback – we go prepared for negative ones too. We feel positive feedback, which is inline with our thinking, is great, but negative ones, which help us prevent making costly mistakes, are even better. Just accept the feedback in totality. There is always time to analyze and rationalize it later. We always ask follow-up questions to understand how the situation can be better handled. Anything we disagree with we either discard or keep it for a revisit down the road. Remember who is seeking for the feedback.

Clear asks: Much too often people who come for feedback come with a blank slate. Open-Ended questions are great when you are exploring some concepts or seeking to understand a business function as part of your sales process. But if you are asking for feedback on your product/solution – you need to bound the asks, clearly in the areas where you are challenged. We go with questions such as Scaling a business, Marketing a low-touch product, Value-based-pricing etc. Making sure you clarify what you are seeking as you are setting up the meeting is much better. Open discussion might yield some nuggets but might leave less time for questions that are much important.

]]>http://www.prudentcloud.com/product-management/getting-feedback-10032015/feed/02881http://www.prudentcloud.com/product-management/getting-feedback-10032015/Should Customer Success Managers carry Quota ?http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Prudentwire/~3/B6IQiY_PyDk/
http://www.prudentcloud.com/saas/customer-success-manager-carry-quota-05022015/#commentsThu, 05 Feb 2015 22:56:30 +0000http://www.prudentcloud.com/?p=2926As companies continue to figure out the true role of a Customer Success Manager(CSM), various aspects of the job keeping coming up for debate. As such the Customer Success Manager job is an overarching role that touches various functions such as sales, on-boarding, implementation, training, support, product while continuing to be the single point of […]

As companies continue to figure out the true role of a Customer Success Manager(CSM), various aspects of the job keeping coming up for debate. As such the Customer Success Manager job is an overarching role that touches various functions such as sales, on-boarding, implementation, training, support, product while continuing to be the single point of contact with the customer.

One such responsibility that gets debated repeatedly in the many discussions I have had with SaaS company leaders is – should CSMs carry a quota? Should they be responsible for up-selling, renewals ?

To set some context and understand how companies have attempted to fulfill the need for Customer Success function will yield the following

Large majority of companies have converted their Account Management team to Customer Success Team

A smaller minority have all but renamed their support representatives as Customer Success Managers while continuing to expect them to manage their help desk function.

Another slice of companies the Customer Success team is an amalgamation of resources pulled from their implementation, sales (the farmer kind), support and account management teams.

Consequently, based on their origins, the charter for the Customer Success team has been made up of responsibilities carried over from their previous function.

Coming back to the question – Should Customer Success Managers carry quota and the responsibility to sell – my recommendation is an overwhelming NO.

A Customer Success Manager, in the true sense, should be a customer advocate within the company and a trusted advisor to the customer. Their only goal should be to make the customer successful by ensuring that the product delivers the value that was “promised” as part of the sale. Adding anything else to that responsibility will distract the Customer Success Manager from their core purpose. CSMs should focus all their time in learning about their customer(s), their business, their revenue model, customer engagement, and provide proactive (and, as needed, prescriptive) inputs to ensure continuous value creation.

What’s wrong with them selling?

You might ask – what is wrong if they are required to sell? They are already talking to the customer and they will have the best indication of the right time to push for renewal or up-sell.

I can think of many reasons but here are some top ones

Customer Success Manager will be caught in this dichotomy. They will be torn between prioritizing making customer successful or pushing for a renewal/up-sell to hit their quota. The actions they take might be (partially) motivated by the eventual sale they hope to close.

Looking at it from customers’ vantage point, on the one-hand CSMs position themselves as their trusted advisor/guide. But at the back of their mind their intent is to sell. This can create distrust between the customer and CSM and break the “partnership” they have in attaining a common goal i.e. making the customer successful. There can be skepticism in sharing information which CSM can use as leverage to push a deal.

Most true CSMs are best at engaging with customers and lack the skills to drive home a sale.

What is the right approach?

While there might be many right approaches, here is one.

Separate the selling and customer success function.

Assign an Account Manager (or title of your choice) to each account with the sole responsibility of (up)selling. This could be the same person who made the original sale (the hunter).

Customer Success Manager will solely focus on ensuring delivery of value. While the CSM is not responsible for a sale, she/he will still be instrumental in making sure the customer renews and does not churn and any potential up-sell. As such their variable compensation should be tied to those goals.

Upon identifying the right window for an up-sell, a CSM can/should create a new opportunity in your CRM and have the Account Manager handle it – just like they handle other new opportunities. CSMs can get credit for the resulting sale and get compensated.

A renewal then becomes an automatic event resulting from the CSM focusing on and delivering value.

You might say, this is splitting hairs. How is it different from the CSM closing a deal herself and initiating the process for account manager to close? How do we measure CSMs?

Believe me, it is different. The cycles spent on closing, prepping for an up-sell on top of carrying a quota can be a serious distraction for a CSM. Given that the CSM will have a portfolio of customers that they need to be engaged with all the time, getting them to also do sales is loose-loose proposition.

As for measuring CSMs, measure them on customer churn, measure them on expansion of LTV of a customer that they influenced and NPS scores for customers.

What other approaches do companies follow in handling this case? Share your thoughts.

]]>http://www.prudentcloud.com/saas/customer-success-manager-carry-quota-05022015/feed/22926http://www.prudentcloud.com/saas/customer-success-manager-carry-quota-05022015/Early Adopters and the value they bring to your producthttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Prudentwire/~3/9q77bhfNP_k/
http://www.prudentcloud.com/product-management/value-of-early-adopters-06012015/#commentsTue, 06 Jan 2015 18:20:44 +0000http://www.prudentcloud.com/?p=2871All products need validation before they are built to ascertain the real problem they solve. They need early supporters/evangelists, after they are built, to prove their worth in the marketplace and to cross the proverbial chasm. Getting people to try your product is tough but let us assume you were lucky and found some early adopters through some hustle and/or network. How should you […]

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All products need validation before they are built to ascertain the real problem they solve. They need early supporters/evangelists, after they are built, to prove their worth in the marketplace and to cross the proverbial chasm.

Getting people to try your product is tough but let us assume you were lucky and found some early adopters through some hustle and/or network. How should you engage with them? How do you deliver value to them in return for taking the risk on you ?

Early adopters are like gold dust. It is paramount that you treat these early customers as special in return for them risking their money, time and decision equity within their company. Your future strategy for customer acquisition, customer engagement, pricing and marketing will depend a lot on how successful your early adopters were.

However, before you engage with them, it might be prudent for you to put a process in place to manage that relationship, and maximize the value for both the customer and your organization.

Make their on-boarding a breeze

As they say “Well begun is half done”. What you need to know is Early Adopters are really passionate about your space. They are usually the ones who have had this pain for the longest time and are appreciative of you making an attempt to create a long overdue solution. While your product might not meet all their needs they are willing to work with you while you refine and polish your solution. That does not mean you can take them for granted. You still need to deliver value to them. It all starts with on-boarding and this is a big opportunity for you to define, fine-tune your on-boarding process and engagement model in the early stage of customer journey. Appoint dedicated customer success managers for each early adopter and have clear metrics to measure them. Having the customer successfully go-live, realize value, happy and referenceable should be the baseline metrics.

Define your Customer Journey

Calibrate your positioning

Early days of marketing is a lot of A-B Testing. You might find some early traction with your initial positioning statement and value proposition. Learn from the early customers, about what convinced them to go with your product and what are their expectations. Having already bought your solution, they might be more open to sharing their criteria, expectations and what your solution means to their business. Use that learning opportunity to fine tune your positioning, value-proposition and in general, your go-to-market strategy and make it broadly appealing to larger set of prospects.

Involve them in your product roadmap decisions

Assuming that your product roadmap is nascent, involve the various stakeholders in your early customer-base to decide where the product footprint needs to evolve. Get a better sense for what your product delivers to their business – the total solution or just picks-and-shovels. Explore the broader adoption of your product by meeting Role-based needs (e.g. CEO needs, CFO needs, LOB needs), business events (e.g. year-end needs, business close needs). While you are at it Prioritize the requirements based on their impact to the business.

Craft your product training

Training is a constantly evolving thing. Your early adopters will serve as an excellent testbed for whatever little training you might have designed before your went live. The inherent detailed feedback you get while working closely with the early adopters can help shape your training curriculum, in terms of both the depth of training (workshops, cross-pollination, birds-of-a-feather) and the medium of training (video, literature, in-product).

Make them an evangelist

Treat the time you work with early adopters as a bootcamp for the stakeholders on the early adopter side. This is your opportunity to make them lifelong evangelists of your product. For having invested valuable time and money in taking chance on a budding company, make them heroes of your success. Make them feel like it is their victory. Provide them with the limelight they deserve, be it through your PR messages, or video testimonials or by providing speaking engagements in user conferences. Besides becoming evangelists of your product, they might serve as your valuable source of referrals for deals and reference checks in future deals.

Early Adopters are like guides that help you build your business, especially in the formative years of the company. So treat them well.

]]>http://www.prudentcloud.com/product-management/value-of-early-adopters-06012015/feed/42871http://www.prudentcloud.com/product-management/value-of-early-adopters-06012015/Mastering the fine art of open-ended questionshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Prudentwire/~3/p-5s8KF3qU0/
http://www.prudentcloud.com/product-management/mastering-fine-art-open-ended-questions-12112014/#commentsWed, 12 Nov 2014 22:09:06 +0000http://www.prudentcloud.com/?p=2872A day-in-a-life of a Product Manager involves a variety of interactions, sometimes it is customers, sometime it is the marketing team and most times it could be the engineering team. As a product manager one is required to seek out information from one channel, synthesize it and feed other channels. It could be understanding the requirements […]

]]>A day-in-a-life of a Product Manager involves a variety of interactions, sometimes it is customers, sometime it is the marketing team and most times it could be the engineering team. As a product manager one is required to seek out information from one channel, synthesize it and feed other channels. It could be understanding the requirements from a set of customers, rationalizing it and validating it, crafting it to feed the positioning, messaging initiatives of Product Marketing while simultaneously translating it into functional specifications for the engineers.

Two of the most critical skills of being a successful product manager (I would dare say, most jobs) are asking open-ended questions and listening. Listening involves processing information and cataloging them properly in your memory for recall later. But it starts with the questions you ask, how you ask them and how you follow up.

A typical mistake most people make here is they imagine/rehearse the conversation going a certain way and prepare guiding/leading questions. That forces you to contain the discussion with the goal of covering all the topics. Instead let the discussion flow and let them drive the discussion and you just nudge it along.

If asking questions is a skill, asking open-ended questions that gets to the heart of what you seek to learn is definitely an art. So how does one get better at doing that. Here are some simple guidelines to follow.

Avoid asking multiple choice questions

While asking questions it is natural to think of the possible answers and give the respondent the choices. There is a fallacy in that practice. By bounding the potential answer with multiple choices, you might get the answer to your question, but you will not get the color/details on why that answer is correct or you will not get a better context for the answer.

For e.g. Say you asked your friend

Would you use this product I have built for parents like you?

being your friend whether they like your product or not, they might respond saying – Yes.

Instead if you rather ask them the question as

If you you came across this product, how would do you use it? or if you were to suggest this to a friend of yours how would you suggest they use it?

The answer you get might be much more verbose in terms of details and nuances. It will also eliminate any assumptions you might make.

Avoid asking a Yes/No question

Asking a series of question which can have a Yes or No for an answer can make it a very quick discussion. Not to mention it will leave you with a bunch of unanswered questions. If you cannot shake off this habit of asking a Yes/No question, then to ensure you find the information/knowledge you are seeking, ask follow ups.

First question:Is this product useful for you?

Answer:Yes

Follow question:Can you share with me how you see it being useful? or How so? or Why?.

That eliminates any assumptions you might end up making.

Start with generic and then drill down to specifics

It is important to keep the initial question broad so you the answer covers all the bases. Once the initial answer has taken a broad swipe at the answer then drill down to the specific area to get to the nuances.

Generic question :What do you think of all the innovation in the payment space?

Specific question :How important is it for you that we support multi-channel payment model – like for example – Pay by Paypal in Home Depot?

Nudges, Cues are good

As mentioned in the prior sections, containing the answers to a specific set of answers is usually bad way of seeking information. If you want to do that – do a survey not interview. That said, it is important to steer people into giving you more information by nudging them or giving them cues

Nudge: If the respondent answered a prior question with an answer and stops. You could nudge them further with “how so?” or “Why do you think so?“, “What made you conclude as such?”

Cue:We know you operate in US, UK and DE. Where else do you do business?

Say No to Rapid Fire Questions

Use pauses after each question and not straight away jump to the next one. Leave the rapid fire questioning method to the press reporters. They just need nuggets that they can sensationalize (correctly or incorrectly). You need more nuanced information. So having that pause in between can trigger additional thoughts in the minds of the people answering the question.

This skill of asking open-ended questions is a very transferable skill and a critical one. Given the overload of commitments each of us (customers and us alike) has, it is important to best utilize the opportunity you have in front of the customer. While it is important for a Product Manager to have this skill, it is also paramount when it comes to Sales Discovery Calls, Customer Support inquiries and Customer Success Engagements.

]]>http://www.prudentcloud.com/product-management/mastering-fine-art-open-ended-questions-12112014/feed/12872http://www.prudentcloud.com/product-management/mastering-fine-art-open-ended-questions-12112014/Have you mapped your Customer Success Journey yet?http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Prudentwire/~3/ecBL9q5sG5o/
http://www.prudentcloud.com/saas/map-your-customer-success-journey-07102014/#commentsTue, 07 Oct 2014 13:58:04 +0000http://www.prudentcloud.com/?p=2860We have all heard and know about Buyer’s Journey. The process they go through from the time a technology need arises, all the way through the decision process, involving inputs from all the stakeholders, till they make a purchase. While that journey has been analyzed and optimized and then some, I don’t think SaaS companies […]

We have all heard and know about Buyer’s Journey. The process they go through from the time a technology need arises, all the way through the decision process, involving inputs from all the stakeholders, till they make a purchase. While that journey has been analyzed and optimized and then some, I don’t think SaaS companies have paid a lot of attention to the journey a customer goes through post-purchase till they realize the value from the product. Consequently, the widespread lack of customer satisfaction in large majority of enterprise software customers.

P.S. In this post, when we refer to Customer Journey, Purchase process etc, we do that in the context of Software-as-a-Service. While there might be a slight difference in the way other industries manage customer success, the core principles remain the same.

By itself, Customer Success is not a new concept. The term “Customer Success” might be new but Industries like Telecom, Cable companies have had this function for a while now. Its recent emergence in the software world is largely due to the shift from license software to subscription model. With Customer Retention and Customer Lifetime Value becoming the most important metrics in SaaS business, Customer Success has become a critical function.

As a vendor it is important to equate Customer Success to how successful you are with a particular customer (or cohort of customers) in terms of reducing the possibility of churn and increasing the lifetime value. It is all about delivering value to customers making them successful in their business.

Why Customer Success matters?

In the past software companies had outsourced their customer expectation management post-purchase to the ecosystem, either to System Integrators or Value-Added service providers. All the company did was provide a Tier-2/Tier-3 support layer and collected Support revenue. With SaaS, it changed and changed in a big way. The software vendor is now responsible for directly managing the relationship with customers and the expectations that come with it. They are also responsible for the SLA, customer experience and ROI. Given that shift, it is imperative that SaaS vendors understand what makes customers successful, the success journey and ensure each customer realizes the value and stays with them longer.

Customers buy a product and use it as they are being told, trained or to their best knowledge. While the goal would be attain the value/success that they sought out of the product, that could turn into a mirage, if not properly managed. It is critical that vendor has a good understanding of the Customer Success Journey and guides customers through that to achieve their objectives.

So what does a Customer Success Journey entail? What does it mean to the companies’ engagement with its customers?

A success journey starts with the definition of what success means. It is not a destination it is the state where the customer realizes success in their business from using your product. In a way, it is the realization of the promise your company makes in its value proposition. It is the expectation customers have of the software and the service that they have bought. So as a company if you are selling a price optimization software and promise significant increase in profits, then the customers would have expectations to achieve that within a reasonable time. Here are some key milestones in the Success Journey

Sales

The Customer Success Journey starts during the sales cycle. A sales cycle should be anchored with an excellent discovery call. It is during sales that expectations are set and promises made. Promises in the way of what the product would deliver in terms of value and those same promises that convinced the customer to make the buying decision. Not fulfilling any/most of them will eventually lead to customer disenchantment and results in churn.

Sales teams will be well advised to keep track of any/all objections raised during sales process (however trivial they might seem), any business goals, events that customer have highlighted to be in their immediate plans. The key is to help customers define the journey so milestones/plans and goals align.

Kick-off

Kickoff is a very critical meeting. The terms in the contract notwithstanding, this is the meeting where the promises made, are reiterated. During this meeting, the sales team hands-off the relationship with customer to the Customer Success team. As part of the kickoff, the sales team presents the terms and entitlement of the customer as discussed during the sales process and as agreed in the contract. This ensures that there is no “dropped” commitments. The Customer Success team and Customer’s project team will then set measurable objectives, outline the journey forward with clear success milestones along with protocol to handle missed milestones.

On-boarding

On-boarding is when you make the first impression. If you have been in the SaaS space for any length of time you know, the first 30-60 days determine the success of any project. Customers that get delighted during this phase typically turn into die-hard evangelists. Conversely those that are disenchanted might leave to choose alternatives. Best-in-class companies create a library of implementation blue-prints, wizards, self-help guides and processes to help onboard customers smoothly. Companies conduct cohort analysis to learn what is working and what is not. Companies are well advised to engage with customers in a high touch model during on-boarding, given that they need the most help during this phase.

Ongoing Engagement

After on-boarding, the assumption is the customer is on cruise-control. While that might be the wish, reality might be slightly different. Different customers need different models of engagement. Some need to be treated with white gloves (or kid gloves, if you choose that) while others might be fine with hands-off engagement. Engagement is also determined by the kind of business that the customer is in. Each touch-point should clearly create incremental value for customers. Typical “check-ins” or “up-sell opportunity ” meeting don’t cut it. Given that SaaS affords vendors the visibility to the usage patterns, behavior of customers/users, each touch point should be furthering the “ball towards the goal post”. All the discussions and objectives of the engagement should be around customer experience, product adoption, license utilization, ROI, business problem being solved and consequently the business value delivered.

Renewal

If the preceding part of the Success Journey was successfully accomplished and Customers have realized tangible value from the product, then, renewal should be a non-event. Customer’s in most cases would be initiating the renewal discussion. In instances where it is not, remember, from the customer’s perspective, the right to up-sell/cross-sell has to be earned rather than pushed. However, renewal is the most critical part of the journey, as far as the vendor is concerned. The basis of SaaS business model is to ensure customers keep continuing to renew, and that will help create a successful, durable long term business. Learning about customers that have churned, post-facto, is too late. So to ensure a high percentage of renewal, proactive engagement, customer happiness and delivery of clear value during the engagement phase is critical.

]]>http://www.prudentcloud.com/saas/map-your-customer-success-journey-07102014/feed/22860http://www.prudentcloud.com/saas/map-your-customer-success-journey-07102014/Conducting an effective sales discovery callhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Prudentwire/~3/K6qDotVrh7k/
http://www.prudentcloud.com/sales/conducting-effective-sales-discovery-call-25092014/#commentsThu, 25 Sep 2014 17:01:50 +0000http://www.prudentcloud.com/?p=2867Sales discovery call is an important event in the sales process. Assessing and gaining an in-depth understanding of the prospect’s real need will have a big bearing on how (if at all) you close the deal. While everybody involved in the sales process knows the importance of the discovery call, how it gets conducted leaves a lot […]

]]>Sales discovery call is an important event in the sales process. Assessing and gaining an in-depth understanding of the prospect’s real need will have a big bearing on how (if at all) you close the deal. While everybody involved in the sales process knows the importance of the discovery call, how it gets conducted leaves a lot to be desired. Having said that, everybody is busy and they will only give you one (maybe two) sittings to discuss the needs. So it is important that you do a thorough job of discovery so you don’t miss out on the opportunity. The key goal of a discovery call should be to understand their current state and what they don’t like about it and the future state and what they would like to see a product do to help.

NOTE: As much as it is a discovery call for you to gauge the prospects interest and imminency of purchase, it is also a discovery for the prospect to evaluate your product. So don’t lose sight of that. Prepare as much for satisfying their discovery.

Background

You have this lead and your internal sales/sales development team has qualified the lead.

Now you, the sales person/account manager has to take it from there to close the deal.

The prospect wants to evaluate your product.

The natural inclination is to say “let us schedule a demo”. Sales teams are wired to pitch their product at every opportunity. They love to tell how great their product is, in what they consider a short window of opportunity, in front of the prospect. That unfortunately is their undoing. More so, in the world of internet where prospects would have already done some research and learnt enough about your product. So for someone to go and parrot what is already out there, is redundant.

This where the Discovery Call becomes critical. Rather than jump into a demo and do a standard “here-is-what-our-product-does” demo, you are better served to first learn more about the prospect and then use that information in the demo, proposals you put in front of them.

So how does one go about doing a comprehensive discovery call?

Ditch the Pitch

The first cardinal sin of a sales discovery call is – Pitching. My advice to those conducting the discovery call is “Ditch the Pitch”.[tweetability]The discovery call is meant for learning about the prospect, their business and so stick to that agenda.[/tweetability] But… “we get this one opportunity and if we don’t tell them about what our product can do how will they know?” is the typical retort. To which I say, until and unless you have managed to learn about the customer’s specific challenge, the key stakeholders involved in their decision making, the timeline, budgetary constraints, keep the pitch in your back pocket. The prospect will not be interested in your “Cloud computing architecture, big-data based machine learning powered product that will do wonders”. Chances are they already know more about your product than yourself from your website or from those who use it. Your best bet is to learn more and then come back with a compelling, tailored meet-the-need pitch. Any time you spend talking about your product is the time you are loosing from learning more about the prospect.

Ground Rules

Here are some ground rules to follow during the discovery call.

Besides not pitching your product, try and avoid using jargons that the technology industry spews out as is their wont. Also refrain from using terms that your company might have fabricated. Keep the conversation in simple english and try to get to the details.

Keep your questions open-ended. By that I mean – keep the questions broad and not multi-choice answers. By asking questions broad, you get the full low-down on the challenges they face and nuances of their business. Specifically don’t ask questions that have – Yes/No answer.

Bad Question: Would you like to run your supply chain planning process faster?

Good Question: You said your Supply Chain process is slow today. Can you tell me how does it impact your business?

Don’t be in a rush to schedule a demo. It is counter-intuitive, but doing a demo prematurely, before you understand their business is like playing Opera in front of a mule. It is completely misdirected. Once you have a better sense for the prospect’s business, their needs, the demo can be much more targeted.

Your goal is to understand the compelling event that is causing them to look for a solution, the detailed description of problem and impact it has on their business.

Questionnaire

With the ground rules defined, here are some sample questions/templates. The questionnaire below is for a software product, adapt them to your specific area.

Tip: Don’t assume answers or think you know the answer. Ask them explicitly and confirm the answers you knew and also look for nuggets that you did not know. These questions are prescriptive in nature. Change the verbiage to make it conversational and open-ended.

Information about Customer

What business are they in? This might seem like a no-brainer question, something that you could easily infer from their website. Maybe. Maybe not. It is much better to learn from them as to what they think the business they are in. Starbucks, at the outset seems like a coffeehouse. It is a coffee house, in that they sell coffee, but if you ask them they will tell you they are in the business of creating an experience that people would want to incorporate into their daily life and creating an atmosphere which makes people come for coffee stay for the atmosphere“.

Who do they sell their product(s) to? Learn how they characterize their customer, the specific target customer segment they are going after, the specific persona of the buyer of their product and other stakeholders that have a say in the buying decision. Inquire if they have different products and if they sell them differently.

What is their pricing model? Subscription, Freemium, License, Ad-supported. Do they support trials?

Why are they looking for a solution? Inquire about the compelling event that is driving the need. Also try to understand their motivation and appetite to fix/remedy it – time-wise and budget-wise?

Request a brief explanation of the team that will use your product. Understand the structure of the team, their significance in the company. How long have they been in existence? or a new Team? Also understand how the team (in question) is measured for their business performance.

Technology Ecosystem – learn about their existing technology ecosystem. Which product they use for Billing, Accounting, CRM, Support etc. This is necessary to make sure your product will play friendly in that ecosystem or cause additional friction.

Getting deep insights about the customer/prospect will help you craft better demos, pitches. That way you will be able better influence their decisions.

Problem Specific Questions

Without alluding to your solution, establish the fact that they have the problem that your product solves. Start with why they think it is a problem? How is the problem impacting revenue/cost?

If the prospect intends to remedy multiple problems with your product, dig deeper into each problem. Gauge the intensity of each problem and identify resolving which results in the best rewards.

Understand your Competition

Are you replacing another software vendor’s product ? Why?

If you are replacing a manual process – understand why the manual process is not working any more. Also inquire about what top 3 milestones the prospect expects to achieve and in what timeframe.

If you are replacing a home-grown solution, then understand what the current owner thinks. She/he could be a big input in the decision process.

Validate your Value Proposition

Now that you have understood their problem and the impact of the same on their business, and you are confident that your solution will meet their need – time to confirm that. You match your solution to their problem. At this point, resist the temptation to use your terms, jargons or processes and make it seem like you are selling. Remember, you are still in the mode of helping them find a solution, not necessarily yours.

Ask them thought provoking questions such as “If you were to have a solution of your choice, and it did <your value proposition>… how do you think it will remedy the <issue you have>”. What you are doing here is making them draw the conclusion that “a solution that does <your value proposition> is the perfect solution”. You will then use the verbiage/statements as part of your close during demo.

After having validated that your solution meets their need, you now request the opportunity to present your solution.

There you go. That should give you a framework for understanding your prospective customer and if you still had more questions, don’t hesitate to call them back and ask for follow-up discussions. What you would have essentially done by the way of asking comprehensive questions is help the customer frame the problem and also the reinforced the need for a solution. Now with a tailored demo that hits those points, your sale should be that much more easier.

]]>http://www.prudentcloud.com/sales/conducting-effective-sales-discovery-call-25092014/feed/22867http://www.prudentcloud.com/sales/conducting-effective-sales-discovery-call-25092014/Value Proposition – Should it be Problem focused or Result focused?http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Prudentwire/~3/C6-KL-dfZ1w/
http://www.prudentcloud.com/product-management/value-proposition-problem-focused-or-result-focused-08082014/#respondFri, 08 Aug 2014 17:07:39 +0000http://www.prudentcloud.com/?p=2863Bringing a product to the market is difficult. Convincing others to buy the product or use the product is even more. It is critical that the positioning of the product and messaging the value it delivers is done right. The Value Proposition of a product or service has a major impact on the success of […]

]]>Bringing a product to the market is difficult. Convincing others to buy the product or use the product is even more. It is critical that the positioning of the product and messaging the value it delivers is done right. The Value Proposition of a product or service has a major impact on the success of the product in the marketplace.

Note: Product here is a proxy to a product or service or a hybrid solution.

It all starts with a problem. A problem that is faced by the creators of the product in personal life or in a business situation. It could be a problem that has long been not solved or a problem created by an event. Then the creators of the product will seek out others to see how prevalent and widespread the problem is. After establishing the need and expectations of the product, the creators embark upon the journey of creating a product that completely or partially solves the problem.

Now that the product is created, how does one market and sell it? How do you convince people/companies to make a decision to buy your product? Needless to say, the product needs to have demonstrable, quantifiable value. But how do you message it?

I have been working with a few startups and helping them refine their value proposition and product strategy. The question came up about Value Proposition as to how should a company articulate it. Some companies choose to highlight the problem and the degree of pain it causes to create a sense of need. Some choose to go with the value delivered by the product. Which is the correct way? Is one better than the other?

It is the classic Cause-and-Effect thing. Highlighting the problem establishes the resonance and helps you identify the target market of potential buyers and maybe, even the person who signs the check. But then again, many of them might be just fine with the existence of the problem. They might not have the appetite, budget or inclination to fix it. It is a negative thought process. Companies usually find workarounds for problems and not always try to eradicate a problem. But highlighting the incremental value your solution delivers, the discussion changes. It goes from a negative to positive.

Let us take a couple of examples in non-software/non-technology world.

A fitness center never says “We will help you find how unfit you are” but rather their message focuses on “we will help you get fitter or healthier and then all the great things you could do when fit”. Even though the message is targeted at the same audience, reiterating the problem does not motivate the buyer into buying. An unfit person might not be motivated to going a gym. But getting them to think about all the things they could do gets them thinking.

A doctor would never say “let me help find what is wrong with you” when they try to get you to take a physical. Instead they say – “let us find ways to get you improve your health”. Diagnosis is just the cause and not the effect.

I see that lots of companies in the performance improvement, security, big data, governance space tend to focus on creating a fear about something going wrong rather than painting the picture of what is possible and the gains to be had as a result of using their product. Highlighting the issues always creates a push-back or resistance in people. Not to mention the reminder of switching costs involved in replacing an existing technology, if that were the case. That is human tendency. More so in companies that are big and have a lot of inertia.

Highlighting the positive impact of the value delivered would encourage companies and individuals to think beyond what could go/is wrong and consider all the incremental possibilities that could materialize.

]]>http://www.prudentcloud.com/product-management/value-proposition-problem-focused-or-result-focused-08082014/feed/02863http://www.prudentcloud.com/product-management/value-proposition-problem-focused-or-result-focused-08082014/Anatomy of an early-stage startup demohttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Prudentwire/~3/2YDa3AmTYG0/
http://www.prudentcloud.com/product-management/early-stage-startup-demo-script-30042014/#respondWed, 30 Apr 2014 17:42:54 +0000http://www.prudentcloud.com/?p=2865Product Demos start much before the product has come into being. Startups would do well to follow Steve Blank’s customer development, in arriving at the definition of what the product would be. While most of the demos with prospective customers would be around the problem, the degree of pain, day-in-a-life of the end-user and the benefits of your […]

]]>Product Demos start much before the product has come into being. Startups would do well to follow Steve Blank’s customer development, in arriving at the definition of what the product would be. While most of the demos with prospective customers would be around the problem, the degree of pain, day-in-a-life of the end-user and the benefits of your proposed solution, a demo to prospective investors would be slightly different.

Judging from demos of 20+ companies from two accelerators I was part of, in the last week, it was clear that this is one area where startups/entrepreneurs have to do some work. As I was giving my inputs/feedback, I thought it would be useful if I created a template for a early-stage startup demo.

Notice that I am not saying it is “early-stage product demo”, with good reasons. As an early-stage startup, while you might have an incarnation of your product ready, it is bound to change. What you are selling at this stage is the vision, the understanding of the problem and your customer. You are also demonstrating your understanding of how you would convert this idea, product into a business.

So what should an ideal demo comprise of?

Demos can be done differently and depends on who does it. Rather than profess a particular way of doing a demo, I will give you some of the ingredients that go towards a great demo and hopefully help you meet your objectives.

We all are suckers for a Story

Almost always start with a story on why this world needs your product. A real-life personal story would make it that much more convincing. If you don’t have a personal story, the next best thing to do is to look for one during your Customer Development. Try and understand the day-in-a-life of a prospect, first without your product in it and imagine the same with your product in it. Have them imagine their world with your product in it and see if they can quantify the benefits. Having customers explain what it would do to their world carries more weight than your proclaiming that your product would change the world.

For good measure – recap the problem and the value proposition once more after the story, so it stays on top of the mind of the audience.

The Solution

After having outlined the problem and the value of solving that problem, explain in brief how your product intends to solve it. Spare the audience the mind-numbing tech jargons and intricate technical details. Your incredible caching technology that blows the socks out of MemCache by doing some sophisticated hashing and compression might alienate some investors who might not be tech-savvy but might genuinely be interested in the problem you are solving. So don’t lose them with technology deep-dive and stick to the customer speak and only if pushed during Q&A get into technical details.

Who would make a good Customer

This is the opportunity for you to share how well you did your Customer Development or Product/Market fit. If you think and say – the entire world is your market – it might sound bad. All businesses start with a narrow focus. So highlight that fact and if you are very sure of how you would expand later, give them a glimpse of that. When talking about customers – clearly identify who uses the product and who pays for it. The investors are smart and can see the other opportunities, even if you did not mention.

How big is the opportunity?

It is common practice to quote Gartner’s “pull-it-out-of-thin-air” market sizing numbers to highlight the size of the market you are going after. Unless you are creating a product that is a SaaS version of on-premise software, there is no way Gartner projections work for you. They only, if ever, predict things for established markets (if you know their business model). Assuming you are disrupting a market with a solution that is meeting an unmet need, the projections of a market are, if anything, speculation. If you know anything about investors, there is a considerable distaste for such arbitrary market sizing numbers. It might even indicate your naivety. You should rather talk about up-sell opportunities and the segmentation you have done to arrive at the target market you are going after. It takes a couple of years of runtime for you to establish a good measure of Lifetime Value of customers.

Distribution Strategy

Sales is the bane of all startups. Building product is easy. Identifying customers and getting your product into the hands of the customer and then charging them for it is the tough part. It is likely that you will get more questions in this area. So do your role-playing among your team on why something might work and why not – before you go to a demo. Remember the founding team members would be the first set of sales people for the company. Your first few sales will come through personal networks. That said, you need to demonstrate how you would scale. If your strategy is Freemium, then you will need to demonstrate your abilities around Inbound Marketing and Free-to-Paid conversion. If your strategy is channel, then you better have someone on your team who has done that successfully. Just realize, getting a channel strategy working is a mirage. It makes sense for both sides to partner but the results somehow elude.

What will it cost them ?

Talk about pricing, licensing model, implementation, who are you replacing (if you are), how sticky you think your product would be. If you are going with Freemium model, then outline the lifecycle of a customer and what will cause the conversion to a paid customer.

Why you?

This is where you talk about the team. Why your are the most suitable to solve the problem you are trying to solve. All the highlights like ex-Google, ex-Facebook, ex-Oracle (being loyal to my ex-employer) go in here. Connecting your past job to the current problem would be very smart. While outsiders think outside the box, they are far and few. A Googler who worked on AdSense team would have more credibility doing a AdTech startup than someone from ERP world.

What are you seeking?

Teams often miss mentioning what they are seeking. “Ye Have not because Ye ask not”. Making the ask for the investment should be the objective of the investor demo. Even if not asked, I would go ahead and mention what you intend to do with that money. Hire the Marketing VP, three machine learning engineers, Hire that smart Facebook engineer etc. If the money is being spent on biz-dev/sales effort then give some indication.

How can people reach you?

Do make it easy for people to reach you. The more people that talk to you the better prospects for your company. Having a good website is imperative. Doing skimp on the website. Make sure you share your contact information or leave a card behind.

Granted that you will not have enough time to cover all these points in as much detail, but used this for preparation as things might come up during Q&A.

]]>http://www.prudentcloud.com/product-management/early-stage-startup-demo-script-30042014/feed/02865http://www.prudentcloud.com/product-management/early-stage-startup-demo-script-30042014/Evaluating a SaaS Subscription Billing Servicehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Prudentwire/~3/5G_r0hq0Jp0/
http://www.prudentcloud.com/saas/evaluating-saas-subscription-billing-service-26022014/#respondWed, 26 Feb 2014 23:48:58 +0000http://www.prudentcloud.com/?p=2857Selling Software-as-a-Service has created new challenges for companies around subscription billing, pricing and managing customer accounts. This has created a new category of software offerings called Subscription Billing. This post will outline the characteristics of a good subscription billing software.

]]>With increasing number of software solutions moving to SaaS, the way to charge, collect the fee for the service is also changing. License (lump-sum) fee is being replaced by (monthly/annual) subscription fee. If the architecture, data management, service uptime (SLAs) are not challenging enough, SaaS companies now also have to deal with subscription pricing, billing and tiered offerings which is not the core competency of most SaaS businesses. To meet this this challenge, a new category of software offering called Subscription Management (aptly also SaaS) which specialize in providing robust billing, pricing capabilities has emerged.

A friend who runs a SaaS company, which is growing fast and has outgrown their in-house process/technology of managing subscriptions, was beginning to evaluate a Billing Service. He asked me to help with characterization of what an ideal service should be capable of and baseline the needs that they need to assess. Thought it might be useful for others.

]]>http://www.prudentcloud.com/saas/evaluating-saas-subscription-billing-service-26022014/feed/02857http://www.prudentcloud.com/saas/evaluating-saas-subscription-billing-service-26022014/Prioritizing Product Requirements using Thttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Prudentwire/~3/TZWmYZhz6nE/
http://www.prudentcloud.com/product-management/prioritizing-product-requirements-01112013/#commentsFri, 01 Nov 2013 17:35:11 +0000http://www.prudentcloud.com/?p=2844Product Management teams have always had to deal with competing priorities when it came to defining the roadmap and what goes into it. A product roadmap is fluid and evolves as the customer base expands or based on larger market demands. It is easy to get into a product features’ arm race with the competition in […]

]]>Product Management teams have always had to deal with competing priorities when it came to defining the roadmap and what goes into it. A product roadmap is fluid and evolves as the customer base expands or based on larger market demands. It is easy to get into a product features’ arm race with the competition in an effort to check all the boxes.

Requirements come in all shapes and forms. They could be Executive whim, one-upmanship with the competition and if nothing else there is always the Gartner “magic” quadrant that compels teams to build things that in hindsight would look stupid.

With all the barrage of requests for new features/enhancements, how does a Product Manager prioritize? The budget implications and schedules of people come later. First thing that has to be decided is what makes it to the train. We have all had this quandary. Back when we were building large enterprise products, we used to spend hours arguing the merits (or lack thereof) of one feature vis-a-vis another. Finally settle for something only to hear back from the field that some critical deal is getting delayed due to lack of that other feature we left out.

A simple yet powerful technique that I have used in my teams to prioritize features is the T. Yes the same T we were taught while learning the basics of Accounting. Only instead of using Debits and Credits on either side, we use Creates Revenue and Saves additional Cost

Looking differently, I am looking at the economic outcomes that customers are seeking and prioritizing capabilities that will help them achieve those.

I contend that all product requirements should fall into one of these two sides. They either generate new revenue for your customers or deliver new cost savings. Or they don’t make the cut. All other whimsical criteria like “my CEO thinks this is cool”, “my VP thinks this should go” or “my CEO has seen this happen in his past life” need to be shot down.

I would also suggest that as Product Managers you arrive at this in your discussion with customers when they suggest/request new enhancements or features. Most of them might not know right off the top how a particular feature would bring new revenue or save cost. They are in most cases living in their own realm. The requirement could come in the form of “I can request and get paid faster” or “I can finish processing these claims faster” or “I could get through more orders in a day”. Hidden in each of them would be the real driver – Additional Revenue or Additional cost savings. Until (at least in your mind) you arrive at that, keep drilling down into the need.

Besides helping in prioritizing the requirements, the “T” also gives

Marketing, ammunition to write new collateral, positioning and other marketing messages. New PR could be generated with content like “Our new product version will increase revenue for our customers in the areas of ……”

]]>http://www.prudentcloud.com/product-management/prioritizing-product-requirements-01112013/feed/12844http://www.prudentcloud.com/product-management/prioritizing-product-requirements-01112013/Securing and Maintaining Customer Referenceshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Prudentwire/~3/u_tL2ET40Os/
http://www.prudentcloud.com/sales/securing-and-maintaining-customer-reference-requests-22102013/#commentsTue, 22 Oct 2013 19:15:36 +0000http://www.prudentcloud.com/?p=2831Customer References are the best way to get credibility for your product. While the eventual decision by the prospect might be more dependent on your value proposition and how painful of a problem the prospect has, references could push the deal past the goal post. Providing references that can vouch for the product has become […]

]]>Customer References are the best way to get credibility for your product. While the eventual decision by the prospect might be more dependent on your value proposition and how painful of a problem the prospect has, references could push the deal past the goal post. Providing references that can vouch for the product has become an integral part of the sales cycle. Most early stage companies sweat bullets when it comes to furnishing them.

Irrespective of what stage your company is at, in its lifecycle, you will be asked for references. Consider it as a certificate of merit for the excellent service you have provided your existing customer. While NPS (Net Promoter Score) serves as an indicator of your customer loyalty (also how good your customer satisfaction score has been), a customer reference is an indicator of how compelling the value proposition of your product/service is.

If you are a well-known brand, customer references are easy to secure. Look at the large software vendors and you will see why. Their customers bitch and moan at every opportunity they get and then you see leaders of those very companies giving a glowing testimonial to the vendor. (speaking from experience you ask ? )

If you are an up-and-coming company or one that is yet to make it, customer references are scarce and few. You feel like you are on a limited talk time cellphone plan from AT&T. You have few minutes and you need be judicious in using them.

Having said all that, here are 7 things to keep in mind in securing and leveraging those customer references.

Securing Customer References

Get it before you need it: The process of securing a customer reference should start right during the sales process. As part of the negotiation of the deal, you will end up with give-and-take. Invariably, you give up some money in the form of discounts. Make that equitable. In return for discounts, secure a call-option for a future reference.

Learn before you ask: Make sure you know about the customer health, before you ask for a reference. Your customer success dashboard should show you their engagement level, their success in using the product/service, their renewal status, outstanding commitments from product/support/service teams. Last thing you want is to further aggravate an already tense situation.

Multiplicity: A successful customer can be a good reference. But secret to making them more valuable is to secure multiple references from within that one account. The CEO could be a CEO level reference, Operational leader (VP, Director) for another reference, end-user/line-level reference and an IT Leader could be an IT reference. That way even if you had one customer reference you now have 4 references out one customer.

Segment: Segment your references based on location and product. Even when confronted with dire need try and not break the segment. A mismatched reference says a lot about your not understanding the prospects’ business and their challenges. Not to mention your using up one of your reference quotas.

Reference Quota: Maintain a quota of how many times you will use (and have used) a particular reference. Overdoing it might result in losing the reference for good.

Value their time: Set expectations to prospects about the nature of access to the reference. While they should get reasonable latitude to ask any questions, set strict guard rails like the one-call for one reference, time limits. It should not be an extensive fact-finding mission.

Filter the morons: Expanding on the previous point, it is important that you qualify the person calling the reference. I had an instance where I had the CEO of a $200MM company agreeing to be a reference only to have the GM from the prospect let someone from his IT team asking him things like Security, Performance related issues, firewall etc. Needless to say the CEO was less than amused. So while you might not be in the meeting, it is critical that you ensure the qualification of the person conducting the reference check.

Replace your references: Stay on top of what is happening with your reference contacts. If/when they decide to move to another job (before you pitch your product in the new position), secure an alternate reference contact in their organization before they move on. In fact, the reference contact would be the best person to help identify the replacement.

Rewarding References

What is the norm in rewarding the reference contacts who take their precious time out to help you close new deals?

There are two schools of thoughts here.

Some companies reward their reference contacts with passes to conference/trade-show, golf courses or gift cards. Some reward the company that provides reference with discounts in their next renewal.

Then there are companies that prohibit their employees from taking rewards (quid-pro-quo) as it creates an environment of conflict of interest. Public companies might have disclosure requirements if they received rewards for doing something. The prospects might balk when/if they come to know that the reference contact was rewarded.

So it is up to each individual company to decide which side they fall on this issue. Personally, I feel if your product or service delivers overwhelming value to the customer, most would be happy to be a reference without expecting anything in return.

As I said in the beginning, whether your prospects ask for references or not, having a goal of securing references is key. It is one of the key indicators of the value you added to your customers.

]]>http://www.prudentcloud.com/sales/securing-and-maintaining-customer-reference-requests-22102013/feed/12831http://www.prudentcloud.com/sales/securing-and-maintaining-customer-reference-requests-22102013/Are you selling an Oven or a Cake?http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Prudentwire/~3/LTK1gr3i4Uk/
http://www.prudentcloud.com/product-management/are-you-selling-an-oven-or-a-cake-03102013/#commentsThu, 03 Oct 2013 19:01:57 +0000http://www.prudentcloud.com/?p=2827An oven, no matter how good it is can just be a shiny object. Its value is realized only based on the cake that comes out of that oven. The cake in turn is dependent on the recipe, the ingredients you use and how you cook the cake. A cake bought from a bakery, on […]

]]>An oven, no matter how good it is can just be a shiny object. Its value is realized only based on the cake that comes out of that oven. The cake in turn is dependent on the recipe, the ingredients you use and how you cook the cake. A cake bought from a bakery, on the other hand, is ready to be consumed and enjoyed right away. What has an oven or a cake got to do with Software Products?

Product companies sell a variety of solutions ranging from ready-to-use products(i.e. cake) such as CRM, Project Management that anyone can use to complex products (i.e oven) such as Business Intelligence, Performance Management that need specialists to realize its stated value proposition . As Product Managers, based on where your product falls, a Oven manufacturer or Baker, you should expect different paths to success. The way you build the product, market it and sell it should be completely different.

Product Roadmap

If your product is a Cake: Your product roadmap should be focused on end-customer. The goal is to build value-added features that will help customers succeed in their business, i.e increase their revenue or increase their margins or at worst reduce cost. Build a product is that intuitive and has a very low learning curve (no training needed). You should interact with your customer directly and seek to know their challenges and product usage.If your product is an Oven: You product roadmap should pay special attention to building the necessary tools/technologies not just for the end-user but also for the value-chain players like data providers, industry domain experts, consultants. In a way, you have a tiered customer structure – the value-chain players and the end-customers. The intermediaries (i.e. value chain players, system integrators) will play a significant role in delivering the value that customers seek from your product and hence it becomes an imperative for you to meet their needs as well.

Marketing

If your product is a Cake: You will do well to get more people to get to your site through your inbound marketing efforts and then showing them videos, screenshots and signing them up for webinars for more detailed illustration of the product. A Freemium model that will allow prospects to try your product on their own before they make their decision would be the tried-and-tested model for these kinds of products.

If your product is an Oven: Your marketing should highlight the process and the value delivered cumulatively by your product and various players in the value chain. Your targets for marketing campaigns are not just the end customers but also the partners who would see themselves participating in that value-chain. Paint the picture through which the partners can see themselves benefitting from the relationships. Create Case Studies, Value Statements, Buyers journey maps etc. clearly highlighting the role of partners in delivering the value promised to customers. Create toolkits, guides, workflows and tutorials to empower your partners. In the initial stages don’t expect your partner to spend on marketing. It is going to be your dime. More about marketing strategies if you depend on channel for your sales in a separate post in future.

Sales

If your product is a Cake: Your sales process is standard. Lead generation followed by nurturing to culminate in a sale. Let Marketing drive large portion of the customer acquisition process and sales only needs to close. Move as much of the cost of sales to marketing as you can. You will be able to articulate the value created by product much better with customer references to boot.

If your product is an Oven: You are more likely to get traction in a channel sale as much as you would going direct (assuming you have a professional services arm). Try and align your sales force with the partners so you can help them sell more. Bring deals to your partner and be a partner-first organization. It is easy to be tempted to do direct sales (to the chagrin of your partners) but resist that. The investment you make initially in making the partners feel – that you are keeping their interests in the forefront, will yield results down the road. Think three-legged race. Check how companies like Intacct have done it successfully.

Support

If your product is a Cake: Support is a quintessential function in a company. A satisfied/happy customer is one customer that you will not loose. A happy customer is one who might bring in new customers. Think of it this way -Every time a executive/user of your application changes job, you are going to get free mindshare in their new company – all this in return for the excellent support you provided in their previous job. In addition to making your product easy-to-use, complementing that with a easy-to-access support will help company reduce the churn.

If your product is an Oven: Think of support in this case as a drip system. You are training the trainer. By enabling your channel with adequate training you are impacting the success of the end customers. As with marketing, create support collateral that addresses the needs of the value chain partners. Conduct Open houses, free training, webinars that educate partners around the best practices in implementation, designing metrics to track effectiveness of the product and handling customer objections/constraints.

Many companies spend cycles doing things as if they are selling a cake when it is otherwise. The sooner you realize your true identify the sooner success will come to you. Rather than expecting the customers to come around, you make accommodations in the way you function as a company.

]]>http://www.prudentcloud.com/product-management/are-you-selling-an-oven-or-a-cake-03102013/feed/12827http://www.prudentcloud.com/product-management/are-you-selling-an-oven-or-a-cake-03102013/Customer Success in SaaShttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Prudentwire/~3/7tIKXNqMack/
http://www.prudentcloud.com/saas/customer-success-saas-03102013/#commentsThu, 03 Oct 2013 15:29:42 +0000http://www.prudentcloud.com/?p=2841Customer Success has become the mantra for software companies in the SaaS space to create a profitable company. I recently did a presentation to group of leaders from the technology space around how Customer Success is changing the very fabric of a software company. Customer Success is not a new term used for the erstwhile […]

]]>Customer Success has become the mantra for software companies in the SaaS space to create a profitable company. I recently did a presentation to group of leaders from the technology space around how Customer Success is changing the very fabric of a software company.

Customer Success is not a new term used for the erstwhile function of customer support or for that matter, account management or client services. Those functions are driven by goals that are self-serving for the company. Customer Success on the other hand should be a passionate focus on customer and the value delivered to them.

]]>http://www.prudentcloud.com/saas/customer-success-saas-03102013/feed/32841http://www.prudentcloud.com/saas/customer-success-saas-03102013/You never let me finish my point!!http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Prudentwire/~3/v5OT05_d3_w/
http://www.prudentcloud.com/sales/you-never-let-me-finish-my-point-19092013/#commentsThu, 19 Sep 2013 18:15:55 +0000http://www.prudentcloud.com/?p=2830This is a complaint I have heard a few times from the sales guy in one of the companies I am involved with. But this time I thought I will do some digging into it. Here is some context. We routinely do role playing in the company before a sales meeting with a new prospect. […]

]]>This is a complaint I have heard a few times from the sales guy in one of the companies I am involved with. But this time I thought I will do some digging into it.

Here is some context. We routinely do role playing in the company before a sales meeting with a new prospect. We were discussing a particular sales opportunity and we were playing roles – me being the prospect and him trying to sell me on the value proposition. A good demo and compelling value proposition tailored to that prospect and there was a reasonable chance of clinching that deal.

As he started his narrative – there were a couple of instances where the sales guy was interrupted by my abrupt interjection. As is my wont, it took only a few minutes for me to jump in and hijack the discussion. He complained “You never let me finish my point”.

Part of it was attributable to my Attention Deficit and part of it was the problem with the sales guy. As I started analyzing the issue, I settled on two things that were happening

The sales guy was going on and on about something and if he had lost me then there was high likelihood he will have lost the prospect as well. Being succinct is the imperative. In my opinion, a sales person should be speaking the least in any meeting. They are supposed to be letting others speak and listening. And if the discussion is stuck at some point then they provide the nudge to take it forward. A talkative person, although common, makes not a good sales person. Anything beyond 20-80% split of salesperson-customer speaking time is detrimental for the salesperson’s success.

As I was pretending to be the busy VP of Operations in this company, the engineer in me (ADD and all) could not wait to hear the crux of what the offering was. Despite seeing my restlessness, the sales guy was “beating-around-the-bush” and not getting to the point. My patience was dwindling and that manifested itself in frequent interjections.

Out of this analysis, I figured out a novel way of ironing out the chinks in our pitch. Pair up an engineer and a sales guy for each pre-sales call rehearsal. It serves multiple purposes – the engineer gains an appreciation for the challenges sales faces in different situations and the engineer in return serves as the bullshit filter on the sales pitches.

]]>http://www.prudentcloud.com/sales/you-never-let-me-finish-my-point-19092013/feed/12830http://www.prudentcloud.com/sales/you-never-let-me-finish-my-point-19092013/Can I have a trial please…http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Prudentwire/~3/9IOoEc2xMEE/
http://www.prudentcloud.com/saas/product-trials-anyone-22082013/#respondThu, 22 Aug 2013 18:05:03 +0000http://www.prudentcloud.com/?p=2828This question was originally posted on Quora and I had responded. I am expanding on that answer in this post. As companies push firmly into a SaaS delivery model, providing ability to do a trial/evaluation has become table stakes. In the new world order of technology procurement, buyers are more educated and prefer to touch-and-feel […]

]]>This question was originally posted on Quora and I had responded. I am expanding on that answer in this post.

As companies push firmly into a SaaS delivery model, providing ability to do a trial/evaluation has become table stakes. In the new world order of technology procurement, buyers are more educated and prefer to touch-and-feel the technology before they even engage with the vendor. Gone are the days when salespeople used their relationship, pushed products to companies. Buyers usually would do all the upfront analysis and prefer talking to sales guys only to close the deal. This applies most industries now – technology, real estate, automobiles. The only exception to this might be the pharmaceutical industry where a pharma company “educates” the doctors into prescribing their solution. We all know how that works. Anyway I digress.

Technology world has, belatedly, moved all-in to a try-before-you-buy model. It is probably the only good thing oft-ridiculed automobile industry has taught the technology industry. With SaaS model of delivery, that has become much more achievable. Freemium models have spawned some of the most successful companies. In the legacy software delivery model, the customer would still be required to make hardware and sometimes resource investments to get a trial done on an expensive software.

If you product has clear ROI milestones that you can establish as part of a trial without the need to have involvement of someone from your end then by all means do a trial. The core idea behind the trial is that you are confident that your solution solves a clear problem and the solution is designed to be intuitive. Alternatively it has enough pick-em-up tips scattered in the app so the user is not lost. The goal is to ensure the trial is a success. Remember the last thing you want is for the prospect to leave with a bad experience.

That said, are there cases in SaaS where this try-before-you-use model does not work ?

While the goal for all SaaS companies should be to achieve this, there are some scenarios where a trial might be challenging and the undoing of the company.

Your product involves (elaborate) upfront implementation work and customers cannot see the proof of their problem being addressed.

Your product needs third party integration to be done for it to demonstrate a complete flow.

Your company does not have a customer success process (needs it own post) defined. You have done all the hard work to get the customer to try your product. If you don’t follow that up with process in play to ensure that trial have a high degree of success the you better not do trials.

But my recommendation to all product companies is to figure out a way to make trial version available. Nothing speaks more about your confidence on your product as saying “You have nothing to lose, try it and we are sure you will find our product meeting your needs and will subsequently buy it“. Also from the product side it

Forces you to make the product intuitive

Forces you to think about ROI all the time – even at a smaller scale

Reduces your sales cycle by a whole lot of time.

Eliminates the advantage your competition might get by providing trials when you don’t.

As for my personal beliefs I think every product should be designed with the ability to do Trials, even complex enterprise software. The “Why not?” question the product team should keep asking themselves should be if “every CAR (much more complex than software) has trial why not software?”

]]>http://www.prudentcloud.com/saas/product-trials-anyone-22082013/feed/02828http://www.prudentcloud.com/saas/product-trials-anyone-22082013/Long, Slow, SaaS Ramp of Deathhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Prudentwire/~3/u9oL597lbXY/
http://www.prudentcloud.com/saas/long-slow-saas-ramp-of-death-22042013/#respondMon, 22 Apr 2013 18:28:21 +0000http://www.prudentcloud.com/?p=2833Here is a great video by Gail Goodman from Constant Contact where she shares the challenges they faced as they tried to reach critical mass and the ramp.